Kovalainen: We underperformed - simple

Heikki Kovalainen has admitted that Caterham simply underperformed in qualifying for the United States Grand Prix.

Kovalainen could manage only 22nd, ahead of just the HRTs.

"“We underperformed today, it’s really that simple. We went with a plan that didn’t work and unfortunately both Vitaly and I weren’t [sp] able to get enough heat into the tyres to get the best out of them, or manage the traffic well enough to get a clean lap in. Tomorrow’s another day so now we need to regroup and have a better performance in the race than we did today".

Vitaly Petrov was 21st but equally downcast.

"Quali obviously didn’t go how we wanted it to. I had traffic issues on every lap and wasn’t able to put a clean lap together, but even without that we’ve struggled with the tyres here all weekend and that showed today".

"It was bad timing for us that the HRT stopped on track just when Heikki and I were on our quickest laps and having been stuck behind them, but you can’t plan for that so we need to put today behind us and hopefully we’ll be better tomorrow".